STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE TYPES OF SHIPS THAT HAVE CROSSED THE EUROPEAN PORTS IN THE LAST DECADE.

With the economic development of the European seas and rivers, there was a sharp increase in demand for services and transport. Maritime transport is one of the least expensive methods of transport, unlike road, rail or air transport and has a number of advantages in terms of the size of the goods transported and the increased safety of freight transport. Many of the sea routes have among their destinations river ports, which hold a large part of the year traffic of ships. In the European waters we find a diversity of types of ships, such as: cargo ships, container ships, barges, passenger ships, yachts, fishing vessels, offshore activities vessels, special crafts and many others. In this paper, a statistical analysis of the number and types of ships that have been registered in the last decade in the ports of European countries, based on information provided by Eurostat Transport Database, an organization of the European Commission that provides statistical information to European Union institutions. As the transport of goods is the main concern in the European waters, an analysis of the gross weight of goods handled in main ports, by type of cargo was made and an analysis of the gross weight of goods handled in all ports, by direction. Also, the top 20 ports in the Europe were identified, in terms of gross weight of goods handled in each port and gross weight of goods handled in each port, by type of cargo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]